Anti-fascist rally pledges East End demo against EDL march
A DEMO is planned by hundreds of anti-fascist activists against next Sunday’s planned march through London’s East End by the English Defence League. They packed a rally at the weekend to protest at the march
A DEMONSTRATION is planned by hundreds of anti-fascist activists against next Sunday's march through London's East End by the English Defence League.
Representatives from different faiths, trade unions and youth groups packed a rally at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel at the weekend to protest at the EDL march.
The rally, opened by the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Dr Muhammad Bari, agreed to hold a peaceful demo on the same day.
The Rev Alan Green, Church of England Area Dean who chairs Tower Hamlets Inter-faith Forum, spoke of his pride at the capacity of East Enders to come together.
Representatives from the Roman Catholic Church, Salvation Army, Tower Hamlets Council of Mosques, Hindu Vivekenanda Centre, Baha'i Community, Sikhs of Great Britain, Friends of the Western Buddhist Order and the East End's once bustling Jewish community pledged support for the June 20 demo.
Leon Silver, from Whitechapel's Nelson Street synagogue, told the rally, organised byUnite Against Fascism, that he was as opposed to 'Islamaphobia' as he is to anti-Semitism.
East London Teachers' Association secretary Alex Kenny promised teachers would join the demo shoulder-to-shoulder with their pupils.
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Unite trade union regional organiser Steve Hart spoke of following in the footsteps of his father who was at Cable Street opposing Oswald Mosley's fascist Blackshirts in 1936.
London Assembly member John Biggs, who represents East London at City Hall, called on people to put political differences aside to unite against racism for the kind of East End he was proud to live in.
